Speeches by Western.

“Stephen Phipson, can I pick up on the point that the Chair was making in terms of the SMEs? You were saying that for smaller businesses, which are much more hand-to-mouth, there will be a much more immediate impact. To what extent is DBT being agile enough in supporting those businesses?”

“How long do you think that plan should be? If it is too short, how long should it be?”

“Have the Government adopted that plan?”

“That is what the Winser report is, is it not?”

“Towards the end of the answer you were saying “10 years plus”. Would you like to see something that is 10 or 15 years and that actually helps National Grid scale up, get the skills, get the staff, get the trained personnel, but also, as we talked about the steel industry before, get the pylons produced, get the cables …”

“Double?”

“The Government have set out that they want to be the fastest growing economy in the G7. This could be a significant sector. To what extent do you think the clean energy sector can contribute to the UK being the fastest economy? What kind of growth do you think you can imagine, say, over the next five or 10 years coming…”

“In terms of the EU and its position, I just want to be clear on what you think about the EU agreeing with China minimum pricing levels for EVs, as opposed to tariffs. Do you have any thoughts on that? Is it workable? That is what the EU is talking about.”

“We have heard repeatedly this afternoon about how the UK is good at innovating, with lots of inventiveness in this country, but not very good at scaling up or going to manufacture, and so on. How well placed are we for these new technologies that you have been talking about, whether it be EV, solid-state battery develo…”

“Alan Johnson and Markus, would you be working with organisations such as the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre? Is the UK playing a part in future alternative fuels for global corporates such as yours?”

“What is your view, Rob Salter-Church?”

“So we have a plan.”

“My next question is looking at the opportunities for advanced manufacturing over the next decade. Which sectors offer the greatest potential? Professor Greenwood, perhaps you could start on that.”

“They are putting it all into nurseries and things like that.”

“On that point, Professor Greenwood was talking about the pilot manufacturing stage between £10 million and £50 million. That was where the big gap in funding was. My question was going to be around what Stephen Phipson was coming on to. What happens in Germany or Japan that is so different? We have just come back from …”

“Are you excited or are you enthused by how well that is coming together now?”

“Are you encouraged by what you have heard so far? As you say, over the decades we have been great with innovation and great with original thinking, whether that is materials or new products such as lithium-ion batteries, but we never see it through. Stephen, you have been around for a little while.”

“Could you unpack that?”

“So it is okay.”

“Last September in my constituency, a new school, Oakley, opened without even a direct footpath to the site, and certainly no cycleway. Sadly, within four weeks, there was a serious accident involving a child who had to be airlifted some 60 miles. Does the hon. Member agree that schools should not be allowed to open unt…”